Most scholarly journals have some of the following characteristics:

• Article citations for the journal can be found in a subject-oriented index, e.g., ERIC, PsycInfo, Humanities Full Text, MLA Bibliography, Social Sciences Full Text, etc.
• The journal is published or sponsored by a professional scholarly society or association.
• There is a list of reviewers (editorial board) inside the front cover or on the first few pages of the journal. This type of journal is a “refereed,” “peer reviewed,” or “juried” journal.

Note: Although not all-inclusive, Magazines for Libraries and Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory both indicate whether a periodical or serial is Refereed. We subscribe to both, so stop by the Reference Desk for assistance with them, or compare your article to the general--but, again, not all-inclusive--characteristics of a scholarly journal article listed below:

The general characteristics of a scholarly journal article are as follows:

• The article includes references in a bibliography or in footnotes.
• The article often contains at least two of the following sections:
  1. Introduction or Literature Review
  2. Theory or Background
  3. Subjects
  4. Methods
  5. Results
  6. Discussion
  
• The title of the article reflects its content.
• An abstract is usually found at the beginning of the article.
• The author’scredentials are often listed.
• The article is based on originalresearch or authoritiesinthefield, as opposed to personal opinion.
• The article may contain supporting diagrams or illustrations.

Note: Do not totally disregard articles from non-scholarly magazines like Time or PsychologyToday. Some of these articles may be quite good, even though they have almost none of the above-noted “scholarly” characteristics. Check with your professor for the final word on this.